Old Winnie

[hpdrifter]

I have acquired an Winnie 94. By it's serial, estimated DOM is 1925. It is in sad shape. The bore resembles a sewer pipe. I can still see remnants of rifleing, but not much. The firing pin is broken. The woodwork is worn to well below the ironwork, whick is pretty thin with edges razor thin.

I'd like to know if you think it'd screw it up by replacing the barrel and woodwork, keeping the old of course.

I'm not a collector and I don't plan on selling it for any collectors value, of which I doubt it has any.

What say ye?

BTW, I was planning on a low pressure 38-55.

[S.R.Custom]

If this is a hobby/project gun, then yeah, I'd say go for it. But unless you plan on doing all the work yourself, the gun will never be worth the money you'll be throwing at it.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I've successfully restored 94's on a couple of occasions. If you tried to buy an average 94 these days you would pay quite a lot of $$$, (at least $600-$1000). so if you would like to make a decent rifle out of what you have, it can be done successfully....probably at least for a few hundred with some of the work having to be done by a gunsmith. A new firing pin is readily available as is new wood, a replacement barrel in 38-55 and any other parts/innards to replace any part that is worn loose and is sloppy. Good sources of parts for Winnies are Gun Parts Corp (Numerich) West Hurley N.Y. and Buckinghams-somewhere in Tenneseee (Trenton?) (Do a search) I have dealt with both of them in the past and they have good/large inventories of parts that are in good shape (but watch out for "import fee(s)" recently tacked onto shipping by Numerich ( and other parts businesses). The result would of course be a good looking, good shooting solid rifle that you would be proud to own and enjoy shooting. There is nothing to screw up if the right parts are used and correctly fitted and no one else would really know the difference. I'm not trying to encourage you to get involved in forgery for purposes of collecting or profit, but its nice to restore a nice old gun and be proud of it. As for the 38-55 cartridge, its an accurate cartridge that is easy to load and does a good job for hunting as well. If you go for it, you'll like the end result. LLS

[hpdrifter]

Thanks for the replys.

I'm planning on doing the work myself. Not scired. Not trying to do a forgery and foool someone. I bought a barrel for a post 64 model, but upon reflection, I think I'd rather do the older piece. I'll just have to eat the previous expenditure on the "newer" barrel. I don't think it'll fit the prewar model. Maybe?

[Buckshot]

.............I believe Green Mountain offers Winchester/Marlin levergun barrels of the correct OD and taper. I was going to go this route for an old 1893 Marlin but ended up buying a NOS 20" 36C barrel. I think it was like $49 or some such (awile back).

http://www.fototime.com/8DF379A46B29A10/standard.jpg

I shortened the magazine to end at the forend tip. I had to buy a new forend blank as all the mostly pre-inletted types are for octagon barrels. This is where the project has stood for the past 2-3 years :-) Stuff just keeps getting in the way don'cha know? I have shot it, just the way it stands and it's a darn good shooter. Just looks odd without the forend, hut it'll come along one of these day if I live long enough!

..............Buckshot

[MtGun44]

If the original caliber was .30-30 or .32 Spl you can have the barrel rebored to .38-55
so keep it original on the outside.

Bill